Question Time (TV series)

Question Time
Presented by	David Dimbleby (1994–present) Peter Sissons (1989–93) Robin Day (1979–89)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	1102 (as of 22 May 2011) (List of episodes)
Broadcast
Original run	25 September 1979 (1979-09-25) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Any Questions? The Big Questions Question Time Extra Young Voters Question Time Schools Question Time
External links
Website

The former Question Time set, Oxford

Question Time is a topical debate BBC television programme in the United Kingdom, based on Any Questions?. The show typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience. The independent production company Mentorn has made the programme for the BBC since 1998. Question Time is presented by David Dimbleby.

It is usually recorded about 2 hours prior to transmission, but has been broadcast live as recently as May 2009 when the broadcast came from Salisbury at the earlier time of 9.00pm BST.

The current series began on 16 September 2010 and is currently being shown on BBC One at 10.35pm on Thursdays. Usually at least once a month BBC One Northern Ireland replaces it with the more local debate show Let's Talk hosted by Mark Carruthers. Viewers in the United Kingdom can also view the show via the BBC iPlayer.

Origins

Question Time began on 25 September 1979, as a television version of the BBC Radio 4 question programme, Any Questions?. It was originally intended to have only a short run, but the programme became very popular and was duly extended. The guests on the very first show were Edna O'Brien, Teddy Taylor, Michael Foot and Derek Worlock, Archbishop of Liverpool. Veteran newsman Sir Robin Day was the programme's first chairman, presenting it for nearly 10 years until June 1989. His famous catchphrase when he had introduced the panel was "There they are, and here we go." There were several guest hosts during Day's tenure, the most frequent being Sue Lawley. After Day retired, Peter Sissons took over and continued until 1993. Since 1994, David Dimbleby has been the programme's presenter. Any Questions? is still broadcast and is chaired by Dimbleby's brother Jonathan Dimbleby.

Format

Question Time began with a panel of four guests, usually one member from each of the three major parties (Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats) and another public figure, for example non-governmental organisation directors, newspaper columnists, or religious leaders. In 1999, the panel was enlarged to five, with another non-partisan member or leading member of a fourth political party joining the panel.

The Chairman sits in the middle and chairs the debate, deciding who can speak on the panel and bringing audience members into the discussion. Questions are submitted by the audience before the programme goes on air. The programme makers select some to put to the panel, who never know the questions before recording begins. During the programme, the presenter calls on the relevant members of the audience to put their question to the panel and gives each member an opportunity to answer the question and respond to each others' points.

For a brief period in the mid-1990s, the programme used voting keypads to take a poll of the audience, who were stated to have been selected to provide a balanced sample compared with the nation as a whole.

During general election campaigns, the programme has taken a different format, with the party leaders appearing as single guests and fielding questions from the audience.

The BBC commissioned a new programme called The Big Questions in 2007 which has a similar format to Question Time but focuses on ethical and religious issues. It is broadcast on BBC1 on Sunday mornings between 10am and 11am. Both programmes are produced by Mentorn Media.

Interactivity

SMS contributions

Viewers of the show can submit serious or lighthearted comments to the show via SMS and a selection of those comments are posted on Ceefax page 155 (not available in Wales). Comments are edited and put to air by a team of four journalists based on the seventh floor of Television Centre in London.^{[citation needed]} The system displays one message at a time, and usually shows several tens of messages throughout each hour-long episode. The system is popular because its editors display both serious and lighthearted comments.^{[citation needed]}

On average, around 3,500 texts are received during each hour-long programme, although 12,000 texts were once recorded in one frantic programme in 2004.^{[citation needed]} Text quantity is directly related to the composition of the panel.

Twitter

On 24 September 2009, the show launched its Twitter presence and the show's presenter has regularly announced its presence on Twitter since late 2009. Using the Twitter ID "@bbcquestiontime" it tweeted using the #bbcqt hashtag. By early 2010, this had become one of the UK's most active "Twitter backchannels" to a TV show. @bbcquestiontime claimed 10,000 tweets had been sent around the show on 7th October 2010. The show had over 40,000 followers on Twitter by October 2010 and this exceeded 50,000 on the evening of 3rd February 2011.

On June 9 2011, Question Time became one of the most-tweeted about shows of the week in the UK, with 5,000 tweets during the programme, with tweeting continuing through to the next day. In addition to the more sober analysis of the discussion, Question Time also has a parallel Twitter backchannel based on the spoof account Dimblebot - purportedly a robot version of Dimbleby - where the entire premise of the programme is claimed to be a demonstration of Dimbleby's ability to defeat the panel. It became clear during the riot special that David Dimbleby knows of the existence of Dimblebot and the associated Dimbledance

Location

Under Robin Day, Question Time was almost always made in London, at the Greenwood Theatre on the south side of London Bridge. After his departure the BBC decided to try to widen the programme's appeal by moving it around the country. Currently the programme is presented from a different location each week, usually in the UK, with a local studio audience each time. The make-up of the panel is usually altered to reflect the country where it is filmed. When in Scotland, for example, the programme may invite a Scottish National Party MP or MSP onto the panel.

Some editions of the programme have been made in locations outside the UK, such as Australia in November 1999, before the republic referendum. In October 2004 a US election special was made in Miami, Florida, with an American studio audience and guests including Michael Moore on the panel. On 10 March 2005, another overseas edition of the programme was shown from Shanghai, China, and a programme from Paris, France was broadcast on 26 May 2005, three days before the French referendum on the EU Constitution. On 7 July 2005, an edition was broadcast from Johannesburg in South Africa, coinciding with the G8 summit in Gleneagles. It just so happened that this edition was broadcast on the same day as the suicide bombings on the London Underground and the London bus in Tavistock Square, therefore diverting the original topic of this QT special somewhat.

In time for the G8 conference in Moscow, there was a special programme from the city on 30 March 2006. Another US election special was held in Washington D.C. on 30 October 2008.

Production

The show is recorded at different venues throughout the UK. Although, as part of plans to relocate BBC production around the UK, the main office of the programme will move to BBC Scotland in Glasgow, the peripatetic nature of the programme will continue.

Episodes

Further information: List of Question Time episodes

Famous editions

In early 1981, David Steel declared his support in principle for "a marriage" between the Liberal Party and any party which might be formed by the Gang of Four; David Owen, who was also on the programme, said he could see advantages in an "electoral alliance" between them. This prefigured the period 1983–1987 when Owen and Steel were Leaders of the SDP/Liberal Alliance and tension grew over whether their deal was a prelude to a merger of the parties or merely a temporary electoral pact.

During the 1983 election campaign, Conservative Foreign Secretary Francis Pym was asked by an A-level student named Andy Davis about the implications of the Conservatives winning the election with a landslide victory. He began by casting doubt on the likelihood of this happening and then observed "I think landslides on the whole don't produce successful governments". This remark was regarded by many^{[citation needed]} as a gaffe and Margaret Thatcher was reported to have been angry at Pym. After the election (won by the Conservatives on a landslide) she sacked him as Foreign Secretary.

In a 1984 edition, Alan Clark, a junior government Minister at the time, was openly critical of a government decision to buy a foreign-made missile system, prompting guest host Sue Lawley to ask the audience, "Is there anyone here who wishes to defend the government on this, because its Minister doesn't?"

The programme broadcast on 13 September 2001, which was devoted to the political implications of the 11 September 2001 attacks, featured many contributions from members of the audience who were anti-American, expressing the view that 'the United States had it coming'. The BBC received more than 2,000 complaints and later apologised to viewers for causing offence, stating that the edition should not have been broadcast live, but rather should have been recorded and edited.

In 2002, the editor of Private Eye, Ian Hislop, made an open attack on Jeffrey Archer, who had been imprisoned for perjury, when his wife Mary Archer was a fellow panellist. Mary Archer was noticeably angry that the issue had been raised and criticised Hislop after the recording had finished.

In March 2007, an Iraq Special was broadcast, featuring Tony Benn, Benazir Bhutto, Des Browne, Liam Fox, Charles Kennedy and, via video link from Washington D.C., John R. Bolton. The episode is particularly memorable for the clashes between Benn and Bolton.

On 11 October 2007, former editor of The Sun newspaper Kelvin MacKenzie appeared on the programme in Cheltenham and launched an attack on Scotland. During a debate about tax, MacKenzie claimed that "Scotland believes not in entrepreneurialism like London and the south east... Scots enjoy spending it (money) but they don't enjoy creating it, which is the opposite to down south." The comments came as part of an attack on Prime Minister Gordon Brown who MacKenzie said could not be trusted to manage the British economy because he was "a Scot" and a "socialist", and insisting that this was relevant to the debate. Fellow panellist Chuka Umunna from the think tank Compass called his comments "absolutely disgraceful", and booing and jeering were heard from the Cheltenham studio audience. The BBC received 350 complaints and MacKenzie's comments drew widespread criticism in both Scotland and England. On 3 July 2008, it was reported that the BBC Trust's editorial complaints unit had cleared the programme of any wrongdoing. Question Time then proceeded to broadcast the following question from Nick Hartley as part of the programme on the same evening: 'After the media coverage of [Andy] Murray's rise and fall, are we now to infer that the English resent the Scots more than the Scots resent the English?'.

The 12 November 2009 edition was the first time in over 15 years that David Dimbleby did not host the show, having been taken to hospital as a precaution after being briefly knocked out by a rearing bullock at his farm in Sussex. The show was instead hosted by John Humphrys.

After he was elected to the European Parliament, Nick Griffin the leader of the British National Party was invited onto Question Time for the first time, to appear on 22 October 2009. The decision led to controversy and political debate. Hundreds of people protested outside BBC Television Centre as the edition was filmed; six people were arrested after 25 fascist protesters forced their way into the main reception. The edition attracted eight million viewers, and also drew a large number of complaints as a result of its content. Griffin himself said that he would make a formal complaint to the BBC for the way he believed he was treated by the show's other guests and the audience, who he described as a "lynch mob."

An edition aired on 19 May 2011 was recorded at Wormwood Scrubs Prison in London. The episode was the first to feature prisoners as part of the audience, while panelists included Justice Secretary Ken Clarke who attempted to defend controversial remarks he had made earlier in the week about rape sentencing.

A special edition of the programme was aired on 11 August 2011 following the outbreak of rioting which had occurred during the previous weekend and earlier that week. Question Time had been off air for its annual summer break at the time and the edition was a scheduled at short notice following the riots.

Audience figures

On 14 May 2009, Question Time recorded its highest viewing figures in its 30 year run over the MPs' expenses row, with audience members heckling guest panellists Menzies Campbell and Margaret Beckett. This figure, of 3.8 million, was a million more than usual, and surpassed the figure of 3.4 million recorded in 2003 for the declaration of the war on Iraq. There was controversy in late 2009 when Nick Griffin from the BNP was invited to appear on 22 October 2009; a new record was set with 7.9 million viewers for that episode.

Similar programmes

• BBC Northern Ireland has Let's Talk, though this is broadcast monthly (replacing Question Time for that week) and has greater audience interaction
• BBC World produces an Indian version of the programme for such viewers
• Pakistan has developed its own version of Question Time
• Australia has a similar programme, called Q&A. It is broadcast live every week on the national public broadcaster ABC1
• The Irish broadcaster RTÉ produced a similar show, Questions and Answers, which ran from 1986 to 2009, and was replaced by The Frontline, which is of a similar format
• In March 2010, Dermot O'Leary hosted a spinoff edition of the show, which was broadcast on BBC Three. It was called First Time Voters' Question Time, and the show was aimed at first time voters. This version of the programme was later commissioned on a permanent, monthly basis on BBC Three, to now be hosted by Richard Bacon, and re-titled Young Voters' Question Time
• In 2009, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched a similar, Australian version of the programme, called Q&A. The programme has become a critical success, achieving extremely positive ratings for the ABC in Australia, with a wide audience from a range of demographics not all of which are normally noted for their interest in the Australian political scene.

Schools edition

Several schools editions have been broadcast: On 20 June 2005, with a panel of Tony Benn, Justine Greening, Lembit Opik, June Sarpong and Otis Ferry. On 6 July 2006, with a twenty year old student joining David Miliband, Richard Madelely, Lord Coe and Julia Goldsworthy. On 5 July 2007 an 18 year old student joined a panel of Ed Miliband, Sayeeda Warsi, Davina McCall and Douglas Murray. On 9 July 2009 one of the panellists was an eighteen year old student. Other panellists were Andy Burnham, Jeremy Hunt, Sarah Teather and Shami Chakrabarti.

References

• Bailey, Ric (26 January 2005) "NewsWatch: Question Time for Question Time" BBC News Retrieved 9 July 2005
• "The Best of Question Time" BBC News Retrieved 9 July 2005
• Guyon, Janet (29 November 2001) "Fortune: The New Future—The American Way" Mutual of America Retrieved 9 July 2005
• Shawcross, William (17 September 2001) "Stop This Racism" The Guardian Retrieved 9 July 2005
• Wendling, Mike (17 September 2001) "Foreign Bureaus: BBC Apologises for Anti-American Views Voiced on Program" Cybercast News Service Retrieved 9 July 2005

External links

• Question Time at BBC Online
  • Question Time at BBC Programmes
  • Question Time BBC iPlayer (UK-only)
• @BBCQuestionTime Twitter
• Question Time at the Internet Movie Database